Mark Knopfler concert

One of my favourite musicians came to Winnipeg. David and I went to the concert last friday, which was given in the centennial concert hall. So despite our seats (2nd balcony, last row), the sound was pretty awesome. The seats were decent too, smack in the middle, and straight above the mixer board, which usually is a good sign. You don't get to choose your fellow audience members though, and what first looked like pleasantly empty seats in front of us, were eventually (after the pretty awesome opening number by a single female and her guitar, ressembling swedish singer Anna Ternheim quite a bit - totally great) filled by 4 rowdy individuals, complete with accompanying drinks, and a cloud of alcoholic smell. The most rowdy one sat straight in front of us. Everything about him was big - the shoulders, height, neck, and especially his voice. Another interesting feature of our seats was that the main spotlight beam went straight over our heads to Mark himself. My curiosity as to whether my hand's swift motion through this beam would be visible on stage would soon be stilled. Not by myself (I considered it, but decided against), but by mr Voluminous in front. It was slightly irritating after the first 3-4 times (he apparently didn't register that the effect of it luckily was minor, and had to repeat multiple times), not because if the effects on the scene, but because the massive amount of light reflected off of his toilet lid -sized hands got slightly distracting.
All this was soon forgotten after the music started. I always liked Dire Straits and Mark Knopfler later solo stuff, but after this concert, he's my new hero. The music was excellent in every way. I was amazed by the manner in which Mark, seemingly with such ease, plucks that music out of his guitar(-s - there was a steady stream of different guitars on stage, one following the other). The rest of the band was as impressive - the composition of it(including a totally excellent violinist, who had a prominent role), as well as their capabilities. WOW! During the 2nd song, Why Aye Man, which is one of many favourites, our mr Massive on the front row engaged in a discussion with his fellows, his voice bellowing out his opinions during my absolute favourite parts, so this time I couldn't resist my urge, but tapped him friendly on the shoulder. And, it worked (well, more or less), believe it or not! He was still acting out his stereotype for 'person you want far away from you in an audience', but, seriously, the concert was so great that I benignly could oversee it. If it hadn't been for his smell of course (aftershave applied in proportion to size of the wearer). Ugh. But, also in this area, the location helped - the air circulation in the concert hall is great, and after less than an hour, also this disturbance was as good as gone. Sometimes I envied him his voice. During applause, all I can do is shout in my high-pitched manner, which doesn't carry very far. Mr I-have-no-barriers had a voice that carried. It might have had something to do with the fact that he chose to deliver his sentiments during numbers rather than the conventional inbetween. The audience was really great though. I'd rather have that, than a bored one that can't adequately mirror my own enthusiasm for the performer. This audience were of exactly the same mind as myself. I didn't really need to learn how to whistle with my fingers, as everyone else did it for me.

Every single song was AMAZING. The concert was on the same quality level as the Sting concert I attended in Göteborg a bunch of years ago. Nothing can really ever beat Simon & Garfunkel's Friends tour in 2003 (Washington DC), But Sting is a very strong second, and this concert was extremely close, if not even on the same level. Major goosebump level.